Ding. The seatbelt sign clicked off and the cabin snapped back into life. The murmur rose as bodies packed the aisle, fighting to retrieve their hand luggage from the overhead compartments.
Jake, still seated, calmly looked out of the window and watched Marcus being escorted to a waiting police van. Jake’s smug smile slipped. He couldn’t shrug off an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He tried to put it down to the fact that he was back in Scotland – a place he had vowed he’d never returnto after losing Eleanor. But what was really on his mind was that he hadn’t considered the repercussions not only for Marcus, but for William’s reputation, and that of the Ross Corporation, if Marcus did have something highly illegal in his possession, and word got out.
He followed the queue of passengers waiting in the aisle to exit the plane. Then he found the car rental desk and waited in another queue for what seemed like a long time. While he waited, he made a call. To his relief, she answered.
‘Faye?’
‘Jake! Where are you?’
He frowned. She knew where he was – he’d left countless messages saying he was going to Scotland, but he’d be back very soon.
‘Are you still in Inverness?’
Jake sighed and looked at the queue. It was now almost three thirty in the afternoon, and at this rate he wouldn’t be heading out of the airport until four. ‘Yes, I’m still at the airport, waiting in a queue to pick up a hire car. Look, the reason I …’
‘Thank goodness,’ the relief in her voice was unmistakable. ‘What did you think you were playing at?’
‘What?’ said Jake, surprised by her cutting tone.
‘Marcus just phoned me,’ she said stiffly.
‘He phoned you?’ Jake said in surprise.
‘He phoned me from a police station in Inverness!’
Damn. Why had he phonedher?
‘Is it true – you said something on the flight that got him arrested?’
‘Look, he was following me, all right? He thought he could just come on holiday with me when I’d expressly told him he couldn’t.’
She didn’t respond.
He had it on the tip of his tongue to mention the drugs – eventhough he wasn’t one hundred per cent sure Marcus had brought any on the flight with him. ‘I do not want him accompanying me, Faye. He reminds me …’
‘So, you had him arrested?’ said Faye incredulously.
On the flight, Jake had Googled what might happen to Marcus after his arrest. Assuming he had been found in possession of drugs for personal use, there were various possible outcomes. He was unlikely to receive a prison sentence. He might be cautioned as a first-time offender, or told to attend some sort of drugs-related education programme. Either way, if he was taking recreational drugs – and Jake suspected he was – Jake thought he was doing him a favour. This would be a wake-up call to stop.
Jake felt he had no choice but to explain. ‘I think he may have brought something illegal on the flight. I’m just being a good citizen.’ He winced, wondering if he should have said that. ‘I imagine that if heisbeing charged, he’ll just get released on bail.’By which time, I’ll be long gone, thought Jake. Scotland was a big country. Marcus wouldn’t find out where he was going this time.
‘You need to go and get him.’
‘Once he is released, he can just make his way wherever he …’ Although he was still feeling a bit groggy after last night’s solo expedition to the land of binge-drinking oblivion, Jake finally caught up with Faye. ‘What did you just say?’
‘He told me they’re keeping him in overnight. Apparently, his luggage has gone missing, and the police want to search that before they decide whether to charge him.’
Jake sighed. So, either they’d found something on him, and wanted to check how much of the stuff he’d brought with him, in case he was dealing too. Or they hadn’t found anything, but needed to check his luggage first before they decided whether there was any evidence to charge him. Either way, Jake didn’tsee what that had to do with him.
‘So, in the morning you need to go and pick him up.’
‘Are you serious?’ Jake said.I’ll do no such thing, he thought as he took a step closer in the queue to the car rental desk. ‘The next thing you’ll be asking me to do is apologise,’ he added.
The line went quiet.
‘Is that what you’re asking me to do? Me, apologise, to him? Oh, I don’t think so. If you knew …’
‘Knew what?’ said Faye harshly.
